Controlling sex has more to it than sex

The sexual urges in adolescence are important for many and diverse reasons. Their propelling drive is not only biological. It is emotional, too. Behind it may lie not only the push for sexual outlets but also other emotional forces. The push for hostile outlets, for instance. The struggle to satisfy a too-little-satisfied sense of achievement, to prove one is liked when one feels one isn't and to gain comforting closeness one feels one lacks. The desperate necessity to decry and deny fear. The pathetic wish to be liked and to have one's "bad" parts accepted, and the deep and pervading need to like oneself.

We know now this is true:

The teen-ager uses sex not only TO SATISFY SEX IMPULSES. He may turn to sex SATISFY OTHER IMPULSES as well.

Therefore, to help him control his sexual impulses, we need to consider many things in addition to sex . . .

It's rounding a circle. It takes us back to helping him gain varied satisfactions in the whole of his life.